Toyota Corolla Conquest 2007 Review

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 3.0/5.0
Safety: 3.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.0/5.0
X-factor: 3.0/5.0

In the pitched battle that is the Australian small car segment, Toyota's Corolla has held off all opposition for years. Mazda3 is usually second banana by a substantial margin and, before the introduction of the Mazda, Holden's TS Astra occasionally outsold the Corolla.

But for long-standing annual sales, nothing compares with the Corolla.

Frankly, that's not about to change. Mitsubishi has just brought out a brand new Lancer that is dynamically and cost-effectively competitive, but the hearts and minds of many small car buyers remain in thrall to the Toyota. Just this year, Toyota released the new 150 Series Corolla, which is a bit larger and a bit heavier. Many have noted that internal dimensions are comparable to the original locally manufactured Camry from the late eighties, so Corolla has basically moved up a size, but ostensibly remains a 'small' car.

Why does the Corolla continue to be so popular? It's a combination of reasons. Firstly, it offers a very diverse range of variants, all priced more or less competitively. Then, there's Toyota's monolithic name for reliability and economy. The Corolla does bring some value and features to that equation also. Finally, it's not 'uncool' within the context of its target demographic. That last reason is partly due to Toyota walking the line between styling that's too bland and too radical. Corolla's styling has adopted the current Camry's look, but that style seems to work better with smaller cars.

The Corolla on test was a Conquest sedan with automatic transmission. That's the 'Berlina' of Corollas, slotting in between the base model Ascent and the range-topping Ultima. It's priced the same as the sporting Levin SX hatch, but is a much more conservative package than that variant and is aimed more for the 'value/luxury' crowd. The sedan heaps conservative style on the Conquest grade's conservative presentation for the alter ego to the Levin SX hatch.

In years gone by, one of the big selling points for the Corolla was the ease of driving it. Steering was always very light, gear shift was light, brake and clutch were -- you guessed it -- light. If the advent of cars such as the Focus, Astra, Mazda3 and the latest Lancer has had any effect at all on the Corolla, it has been to tip Toyota's hand in the direction of tempering the almost unbearable 'lightness' with your actual driving dynamics.

Steering is perhaps a little heavier in this latest generation of Corolla than typical Toyota drivers might have come to expect -- or perhaps not, if they're drivers of more recent vintage Toyotas. The 150 Series Corolla was released earlier this year and certainly approaches the adept handling and steering of its Euro rivals. The steering offers relatively high levels of feel and the handling is consistent and safe, but with a more neutral overtone. Ride suffers by comparison with the Astra and Focus. It's harder riding, but not unreasonably so, given its decent handling. The Corolla's overall roadholding was let down just a tad by the tyres fitted, which were not really intended for 'ten-tenths' motoring.

If the Corolla's general composure in the twisties came as a pleasant surprise, the engine and transmission combination was just a bit of an anti-climax. The 1.8-litre 2ZR-FE DOHC engine is a totally new design introduced with the 150 Series Corolla range and features all-alloy construction and dual variable valve timing. It develops 100kW of power at 6000rpm and 175Nm of torque at 4400rpm.

With the variable valve timing working on both inlet and exhaust cams, there's plenty of grunt across a wide range of engine speeds -- as should be the case. It certainly doesn't feel sluggish and works better with the four-speed automatic transmission than you'd have any right to expect, but it's not a particularly sporty sounding engine. On the other hand, we've definitely heard worse and the engine is providing solid levels of performance in a market segment where competitors are increasingly going the 2.0-litre route...

Access to the Corolla's interior is straight-forward and the doors open nice and wide. When they close, they do so securely with a very muted noise. It's a very 'Toyota' way of operating. Light and easy to use, but closing securely without slamming and no drum-like clunk as you might get in some European or Australian cars. They more or less glide closed and you never feel like going back and checking that the door has latched fully. It's impressively reassuring and delicate in its operation (but not delicate in its durability). If it has a 'drum-like' aural quality at all, it's in the manner of a five-litre drum.

At the risk of sounding obssessive, it's the doors that stand out as an example of Toyota's attention to detail in fit, finish and ergonomics for the Corolla. The new Mitsubishi Lancer is an impressive vehicle, but its doors have a slightly hollow, light-weight sound compared with the Corolla's. The Corolla's doors close more adroitly than the new Subaru Impreza's (although the Subaru's are much improved) and the Toyota's are lighter than those of the Focus.

If you think about it for too long, you can start to imagine Toyota engineers conducting tests on human guinea pigs to determine the point at which doors closing can actually stimulate the pleasure centres of the brain -- enough already!

From the driver's seat, it was easy to find a decent driving position, but the field of vision to the rear is not as good as the -- now superseded -- CH Lancer, to use one example. There's some guesswork involved in knowing how far you can back. The boot lid seems to be set quite high and the spoiler fitted to the test car made the matter worse.

For rear seat passengers, legroom is very good and easily capable of accommodating average size adults in comfort. Even taller adults will not feel cramped, although head room right above the rear window is a problem for anyone 180cm or taller.

Controls are easy to use and utterly conventional. The steering wheel is a good size for the level of power assistance and the (auto) transmission selector pulls back easily through a gated quadrant and provides unmissable detentes for those occasions when shifting manually.

One thing we found -- probably a bit funky but moderately annoying -- is the slick finish on the volume control knob of the radio. Nor are there no striations on the outside of the knob, so it requires a slightly firmer grip to change the volume. This is probably the first such occasion a radio has been developed with a knob like this since 1956.

There is remote control audio switchgear on the left spoke of the steering wheel and most people will likely change the volume setting this way once they're used to it, but what about passengers?

On the subject of the radio, we appreciated the MP3 input jack, but found the radio's reception was frequently weak -- and that was in urban areas, not out in the sticks.

Otherwise, the interior layout works logically and is quite convenient.

Two cupholders in the centre console have cover flaps which keep detritus out of the cupholders and are definitely a good thing. More cars should offer this sort of feature.

On the driver's side, the electric window offers both an auto-up and auto-down facility, which is by no means universal, even in this day and age.

Sedan buyers will be likely purchasing that body style for its ability to swallow groceries and other goods without said goods involuntarily validating the law of gravity inside the cabin.

In the case of the Corolla, the boot is cavernous, but is in keeping with the Corolla's external size. It has a handy plastic bin with a partition in the right side of the boot, near the wheel arch. This is useful for things you want to keep collected together or things that are wet and mucky that you don't want rolling around in the boot splashing that general 'muckiness' from here to breakfast.

If the boot disappoints at all, it's in the matter of opening it. There's no external release handle, so if you've been shopping and return to the car with a whole bunch of groceries, you have to unlock the boot with the key -- physically -- because there's no unlock/unlatch release button on the key, wired into the remote central locking.

You can unlatch the boot from the driver's seat, which is well and good if you're extracting something from the boot, but not so good if you want to place something within the boot and your arms are full.

We can foresee owners working out they need to open the boot first, before fetching the goods to be deposited in the boot.

It's a niggle that may be of absolutely no consequence if you don't often carry 'stuff' around or it could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. Overall though, there aren't that many straws heaped on the back of the metaphorical Corolla camel.

The Corolla Conquest sedan is a worthwhile car that should -- as in the normal scheme of things Toyota -- keep operating economically, reliably and safely for years. Whilst it's not the most exciting car in town, neither would you call it especially dull, as you might have been justified saying of Corollas in the past. It's finely honed as far as small cars go and one need never feel like they've made the wrong choice purchasing a Corolla, but the divide between the Corolla and its competition is starting to close...